DELTOIDES. 309 



From this the full-grown appearance is gradually assumed. 

 (Rev. J. Hellins.) 



July and August, and probably in a second generation in 

 October, but of this we have no direct knowledge, nor of the 

 condition in which the winter is passed. Mr. Hellins' larva? 

 fed readily upon the flowers of thyme {Thymus serpyllum), 

 yet the habits of the moth are not such as to render it pro- 

 bable that this is the ordinary food. Probably flowers — alive 

 or dead — may be acceptable. Possibly a strong taste evinced 

 by the larva? in question — apparently — for feeding upon one 

 another may have arisen from distaste for the food provided. 



Pupa blunt at the head, tapering gradually towards the 

 tail, which is rounded, not acute, with a polished surface ; 

 pale green, faintly tinged with brown. (Rev. J. Hellins.) 



The moth hides among very thick herbage, dense masses 

 of grass and sedge, or thick low bushes, but is unwilling to 

 show itself by day, and when aroused flits very hastily to a 

 similar shelter ; yet in the fens it will rise at one's feet, in 

 very hot weather, and fly to a short distance. Its ordinary 

 flight is at dusk, and ib will then come to sugar or to thistle 

 blossoms and other flowers, doubtless also to honey-dew. 

 Most frequent in fens and in the edges of wet woods and 

 boggy heaths ; very often in the spots frequented by the last 

 species, though perhaps more attached to wet mossy heaths, 

 and more widely distributed. Apparently to be obtained in 

 such suitable spots in all the Southern, Eastern and Western 

 Counties of England, even to Cheshire, North Lancashire, 

 Westmoreland, and possibly Cumberland, in the West, but 

 not, I think, noticed beyond Norfolk in the East. Hardly 

 observed at all in the Midlands, but it reappears, very locally, 

 in Yorkshire. In Wales I have taken it in Pembrokeshire, 

 and have little doubt that it is (secretly) present in many 

 parts of the Principality. Its obscure appearance and retir- 

 ing habits would cause it very often to be overlooked. In 

 Ireland it has been found at Enniskillen, Cork, Sligo, and 



